Market Snapshot
Singapore stocks opened lower on Tuesday. STI fell 0.3%; Keppel fell 0.8%; SGX fell 0.5%; Singtel and OCBC fell 0.4%; DBS fell 0.3%.
Stocks in Focus
IReit Global: The manager of the Europe-focused real estate investment trust (Reit) said that its Berlin RE(O Campus has secured a landmark 25-year lease agreement with Berlin’s main public transport operator. It will lease 39,419 square metres of net lettable area at Berlin RE(O Campus under the long-term lease and will establish its headquarters at the asset. Occupancy at the property is expected to increase materially from about 25 per cent to about 75 per cent. Units of the Reit rose 1.8 per cent to close S$0.003 higher at S$0.168 on Monday, before the news.
SG Local News
DBS, Citi Bypass Traditional Banking Hours in Cross-Border Tokenised Deposit Trial
DBS and Citi executed a live cross-border US dollar payment on Saturday (Sep 5) using tokenised deposits, marking a new milestone in a broader global pilot to bypass traditional banking hours.
The transaction between Singapore and Citi’s New York office was completed in minutes via the SWIFT Digital Ledger, said the two banks on Monday. It follows recent live native ledger transactions Citi processed in the Middle East with First Abu Dhabi Bank, and in South-east Asia with OCBC.
The test comes as financial institutions seek faster liquidity management tools to support 24/7 digital industries such as e-commerce and digital services. Outbound cross-border payment volume in Asia is projected to nearly double to US$24 trillion by 2033, from US$13.5 trillion in 2025.
“In a global digital economy that never sleeps, businesses need to move money more quickly and efficiently across borders to stay competitive,” Rachel Chew, group chief operating officer and co-head of digital assets for global transaction services at DBS, said.
Singapore Employers Grow Selective as Nearly Half Plan to Hold Headcount Steady in Q4: Survey
Employers in Singapore are taking a more selective approach to recruitment for the final quarter of 2026, with nearly half planning to maintain current staffing levels rather than pursuing broad workforce expansions.
The latest ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey released on Tuesday (Sep 8) indicated that Singapore’s seasonally adjusted net employment outlook stands at 13 per cent for Q4 2026.
The outlook remains unchanged from the previous quarter but marks a seven-point decline compared with the same period last year.
The 13 per cent figure represents the softest hiring forecast since Q4 2021 when the outlook was negative 2 per cent.
Jefferies Fund Seeks Radiant World Asset Freeze in Singapore
A fund run by a Jefferies Financial Group Inc. subsidiary is seeking a freezing injunction against iron ore trader Radiant World and its founder Pinkesh Nahar in Singapore, days after securing a worldwide freezing order against them from a UK court.
LAM Trade Finance Group II LLC’s application is scheduled to be heard in Singapore’s High Court on Sept. 9, according to the judiciary’s hearing list. The case names Radiant World’s main Singapore operating entity, its Hong Kong parent, Nahar, Sapphire Minmetals Corporation Ltd. and its chairman Rakesh Sethi as defendants.
The Singapore application marks a further escalation by Jefferies against Radiant World. The fund — which is run by Point Bonita, part of the US bank’s asset management division — last week filed claims in London against the same five parties, and subsequently obtained a worldwide freezing order from the UK’s High Court, Bloomberg News reported last week.